I’m never too sure how much I actually enjoyed university life. Some people ‘find themselves’ at university by going out partying or travelling to soak up new experiences. I found myself by cloistering in my room, mildly depressed, and stuck in an unhealthy relationship. But overall I still might have liked it. My writing degree had no lectures, all writing-based seminars, and no exams, just assignments that were mainly creative. I learned a lot from it, both on the page and off. Sometimes I miss it. Sometimes I wish I could do it all over again, more sure of myself. Life is Strange: Double Exposure is brewing up all of these feelings again.
I’ve technically been to university three times. The first, as stated above, was not a typical experience – it took place in classrooms in modern buildings, and while the lessons were fulfilling, it lacked the grandiose feel of university life, and I was weighed down from feeling the freedom university is supposed to bring, especially in my second and third years.
The second time, in what feels like another lifetime, I had a career as a teacher and did a whistlestop academia week at a university where none of us really felt like we belonged or were gaining anything. And the third time I did my Masters in Journalism, and Covid happened. That’s where Life is Strange comes in.
Double Exposure Captures The University Aesthetic
This third stint might have been the closest to the feeling of university I had imagined before I got there. It featured an array of lectures and group projects and all those other standard university assignments, was in a more hardcore subject that I felt challenged by yet able to overcome, and it all took place in very old, very grand corridors and halls.
I was also more myself then. Literally – it’s the only one of the trio I did post-transition. But with that came confidence and self-assuredness. Many of the cohort were fresh out of their undergraduate degrees and, to me at least, basically still kids. I didn’t ‘find myself’ through late night parties and plastic baggie benders, but I do wonder what things would have been like if I had this mindset when I first went to university, and if I might have gained more from the experience. In any case, by the time classes moved online or into written assignments through Covid, I had soaked up enough of it to allow me to grow nostalgic for it.
I promise Life is Strange wasn’t some SEO ploy. If that was the case I’d have called this article Sydney Sweeney Leak Cute Cat Videos Taylor Swift Tickets Cheap Christmas Presents For Girlfriend Elden Ring Sequel Switch 2 Release Date Makes Me Nostalgic For University. I just needed the context. The point I’m making is Life is Strange: Double Exposure takes place at a sort of idealised university (aside from the murder) that merges together all of the best parts of the experience I miss from that time in my life.
Life Is Strange Mostly Takes Place In Old School Halls
First, there’s the setting. Two episodes in, I’ve only explored a small quad on campus that has three different buildings all linked together. The cosiness reminds me of my first time at university, as does the massive emphasis Double Exposure’s professors place on creative expression, and writing in particular. It’s that small, cosy, personal time I remember fondly. A time when someone read something you wrote and said it was good, and meant it, instead of sending you an email full of spelling mistakes about wokeness.
But inside, these small buildings feel mighty. With oak archways, thick doors, ominous stone alcoves full of art and history and legacy, it reminds me of the more typically academic experience that was cut short by Covid (which itself gets a minor reference in Double Exposure). Then there’s the fact several of the characters don’t seem to like Max or want anything to do with her, and blowhards who care more about self-promotion and keeping up appearances than teaching. That would be the second time ticked off, then.
This is not just personal to me, though. Even though you never sit in any classes (Max is a photography teacher, but so far we’ve never seen her do any work), or attend any classic ragers, it feels like the university experience. The sights, the sounds, it even convinces you of the smells as you wander musty libraries and hear the squeak of antique hinges. It’s far less ‘about’ school than the original Life is Strange, which revolved heavily around the lessons and cliques and layout of Blackwell Academy. And yet it reminds me of school more than maybe any game I’ve ever played.
Life Is Strange Is A Utopia, Except For All The Bad Stuff
Everything in Life is Strange is idealised to an extent. Again, not so much the murder. From Max’s intentionally cornball dialogue to the progressive cast of characters, to the fact it feels like every business is a small, local, co-operative with gender neutral toilets and a mission statement, this is not reality. It is a better, shinier version of it. And that is reflected in academia too – while there are still selfish professors and backstabbing aplenty, it’s a world that celebrates art and creativity.
University life is not really like this – it’s not just show up and take some pictures or write some poems and have a professor decide that you (yes, you!) are a genius in waiting and then spend their time nurturing that greatness in an environment that allows you to thrive. But when I remember university, it kind of is like that in my memory. Nostalgia is our own better, shinier version of reality, and Life is Strange: Double Exposure taps into that perfectly. It makes me miss school days I never had.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
72/100
- Released
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October 29, 2024
- Developer(s)
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Deck Nine